William N. Pendleton

William Nelson Pendleton (26 December 1809-15 January 1883) was a Confederate States Army Brigadier-General who served as chief of Robert E. Lee's artillery for much of the American Civil War.

Biography
William Nelson Pendleton was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1809, and he grew up on his family's plantation in Caroline County. He graduated from West Point in 1830 and was stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, but he resigned from the US Army in 1833 due to the Nullification Crisis. He became an Episcopalian priest in 1838, working in Alexandria and Baltimore. When the American Civil War broke out, he joined the Confederate States Army as an artillery captain, and he named his cannons Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John after the authors of the Gospels. He and his battery performed capably at the Battle of Hoke's Run, and he was injured in the ear and in the back at the First Battle of Bull Run. In July 1861, he was given command of the Confederate Army of the Potomac's artillery, and, although Robert E. Lee wanted him replaced in 1862, Pendleton's friendship with Confederate president Jefferson Davis saved him. On 19 September 1862, in the Battle of Shepherdstown, he lost all of his artillery, contributing to his soldiers' dislike for him. Lee refused to promote him to command fellow "fighting bishop" Leonidas Polk's corps after he was killed in 1864, and he surrendered with Lee at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865. After the war, he went on to serve as rector of Grace Church in Lexington, Virginia until his death in 1883; he convinced Lee to become one of his parishioners, and Lee founded Washington and Lee University in Lexington. Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach is named in Pendleton's honor.